NEW Video card or New CPU

[mjolnir2k]

Looking to make doom 3 playable on my system (currently very choppy)

What would be the best use of $200 (or so) dollars?

1. replace my GF4 ti4400 with a FX5900XT (or similar)
2. Replace my XP1700 with a XP2700 (or similar)


Thanks in advance.

(yes, I did search...and read a bunch of threads with no real help)

 

[xgi]

replace your graphic card for more gaming performance...

*BTW: your CPU is powerful enough to play more than Doom III

 

[Bateluer]

You'll have to upgrade the CPU as well before too long. The vidcard would be the more worth while upgrade right now, but that 1700 isn't going to last too much longer.

 

[xgi]

my Intel P3 800EB MHz plays Doom 3 perfectly well with a Radeon 9550!

 

[SneakyStuff]

Originally posted by: xgi
my Intel P3 800EB MHz plays Doom 3 perfectly well with a Radeon 9550!

:roll: You mean its a perfect slideshow? Anyway, in reference to the original question. Go for the 5900XT. It's going to give you the most notable performance gain.

 

[nitromullet]

my Intel P3 800EB MHz plays Doom 3 perfectly well with a Radeon 9550!

I doubt that how this system plays Doom3 would be considered "perfect" by most of the people that frequent this forum. However, I would go with your recommendation to get a video card over the cpu to help with Doom3 performance, but a cpu upgrade certainly wouldn't hurt and is about 1/2 the price of the video card.

 

[xgi]

*edit*
almost perfect with decent framerates

what kind of perfect do you know anyway?

 

[lordtyranus]

Buy a mobile barton for around $80, a used 9700 off the FSFT forums for around $120, then sell the parts you have.

 

[Budman]

Originally posted by: xgi
*edit*
almost perfect with decent framerates

what kind of perfect do you know anyway?

640X480 low detail ?

 

[nitromullet]

Originally posted by: xgi
*edit*
almost perfect with decent framerates

what kind of perfect do you know anyway?

FPS isn't something that needs to discussed and bickered about. Give us your settings, bench it, and post your FPS...

 

[mjolnir2k]

Keeping in mind that I have my XP1700 currently running at xp2400 speeds I am hoping to get a bit more mileage out of the ol' girl. My only consideration on the CPU was that by being O/C'd to a fair degree was the strain from Doom 3 taxing it too much in it's O/C state?

Looks like the video card is the way to go though. If only to get DX9 performance.

Thanks for your replies.

-mj2k

 

[heylookitsjerry]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the 9800 Pro be the better buy for less than 200?

 

[mjolnir2k]

Originally posted by: heylookitsjerry
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the 9800 Pro be the better buy for less than 200?

You tell me? I have limited ATI experience other than reading multiple posts throughout the years regarding driver issues.

Always gone with nvidia (well, except for my old 3DFX) for ease of setup and O/C and never had an issue.

Also, I understood that Doom 3 is optimized for the Nvidia line of cards as HL was for ATI.

Thoughts?

Right now my finger is hovering on the order button at newegg for THIS CARD

Thanks.

 

[nippyjun]

I'd sell your chip and vid card and get the fastest cpu that you can put in your mobo and a 6600GT when they come out or a 6800. The money you get from your cpu and gpu should pay for the new CPU and some of the vid card.

 

[reallyscrued]

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't the 9800 Pro be the better buy for less than 200?

ahh u beat me to it. anyway, hes rite. if u want the most bang for buck, get the msi 9800pro off newegg, flashes to XT. gettin a 300+ card for two hundred. and if u can sell ur other hardware, get a mobile barton, i got mine AMD Athlon XP-M 2400+, runnin 11*205 prime95 stable. (thats 2255 mhz folks) it does 2.5 fine, but temps are too hot to handle, i need a duct. BTW, mobiles are the same barton core but they come from notebooks which support on-the-fly-multiplier changes. that means u can pick ur multiplier when u plug this baby in!

 

[nitromullet]

ahh u beat me to it. anyway, hes rite. if u want the most bang for buck, get the msi 9800pro off newegg, flashes to XT. gettin a 300+ card for two hundred. and if u can sell ur other hardware, get a mobile barton, i got mine AMD Athlon XP-M 2400+, runnin 11*205 prime95 stable. (thats 2255 mhz folks) it does 2.5 fine, but temps are too hot to handle, i need a duct. BTW, mobiles are the same barton core but they come from notebooks which support on-the-fly-multiplier changes. that means u can pick ur multiplier when u plug this baby in!

Awesome! Prime95 is my favorite game. You know when Prime04 is due out? j/k Seriously, that is a nice OC, and not a bad recommendation for a video card.

I assume you guys are talking about this card...

http://www.newegg.com/app/view...=14-127-127&depa=0

...close to FX5900 Ultra performance in Doom3 (with a much faster cpu then the OP, or almost anyone for that matter)

http://www.anandtech.com/video...oc.aspx?i=2146&p=2

...and will perform better than the FX5900 XT in most other games, especially HL2

 

[JBT]

Go for video easy. your CPU @ 2.25according to your sig is plenty fast enough I would go with a 9800 Pro rather than a 5900 XT though.

 

[Dman877]

Can you wait a month or 2 for the 6600GT? That would be your best bet. If you can't wait, a 5900XT or 9800 Pro would both work well.

 

[nitromullet]

The AGP version of the 6600GT is not due out til a month after the PCIe version, which is supposed to be out in late Sept.

 

[ViperV990]

I'd jump straight to a 6800... but that could be just me.

 

[Corporate Thug]

get the video card

9800 pro or a 6800 if you can afford another ~$100

 

[BeTomXXX]

I have P4 2.8ghz and an X800pro.
when I run the taskmanager and playing doom3 it is clear that the CPU is not running at 100% of it's capacity.
I could be wrong with this test, bt my guess is that it would be best for you to first upgrade your vid card.

 

[mjolnir2k]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

Can't quite swing the cost of the 6800, so I am thinking 5900 (not XT) from the AT FS forum or 9800 pro is the way to go.

Decisions, Decisions..

Thanks again!

 

[Marsumane]

options considering only doom 3:
5900xt overclocked (170ish) 1024x768 high detail
9800p msi oced (200ish) 1024x768 high detail
6800nu oced (270ish) 1600x1200 high detail